sebcat

I didn't have one for a sabre (original sabre) 135 loaded at 1.37 and I don't have one for my current free fall canopy, a springo 120 @ 1.55. I mainly do CRW so I don't use it a lot. If I would use it often, I would get a collapsible PC. That said, it flies and lands just fine. In the world of Need vs. Nice, I'd say a collapsible PC is a nice thing to have. I've seen PC's distort the canopy visibly on smaller canopies, OTOH I don't notice the difference between a 36'' and a 46'' non collapsible PC on my Troll 245 in flight, loaded at .7-.75. In fact, the PC doesn't really pull on the Troll, it dances more. I had a lightning 143 @ 1.3 where the PC (32'' ZP non vented) would inflate from time to time (retractable bridle, no kill cone) and it was noticeable when it did. Not to the point where you would feel it though, but if you looked at it from the side, you could see the distortion on the top skin. I don't think you will feel any difference on a lightly loaded (around 1 lbs/sq.ft.) 170. As for material, ZP is the way to go IMHO. It will last longer and the fabric will not deteriorate as much over time.

Hello, I want a pair of cross connectors for this season. I'm thinking a piece of dacron line between the hard links (front/rear ofc), but I want to check with you guys first. I've never seen a cross connector up close. Anyone got pictures, measurements, tips to share? //Sebastian

The prices change with the exchange rate, that's true but the price of a jump ticket has more to do with availability of resources like airplanes and fuel, and supply and demand in general. If you take Greece for example, before they got the Euro they had the drachma. The exchange rate was good. It was a long time ago for me now, but if my memory serves me right one USD was something like 200-250 drachmas. However jumping was very expensive. Now they've got the euro, and one USD is 0.76 EUR, but jumping is still very expensive. Not because of the exchange rate, but because of other economic factors. saxboy: your jump tickets might be expensive, but your country is beautiful.

That's why God invented bowling :) I understand why someone without a cutaway might find the concept frightening, but in the end it's one of the few things you really *need* to be able to do. So what if you suck at RW, so what if you look dorky in your old jump suit, so what if you haven't got the latest altimeter or helmet... All you need is to be able to arch, pull, flare and perform EPs if needed. Everything else is not important. Sometimes people forget. A little anecdote. It used to be a requirement over here to have a cutaway before you could be a TI. You know, like a trial by fire thing. The ones who didn't have one could borrow a cutaway rig and make one. This was of course not the same thing, because if you plan to do a cutaway and you have three canopies then what's the big deal? That requirement was later scrapped. This was before my time, so I might be wrong but that's what I've been told. Learning proper EPs on the ground (and actually pulling stuff) is way more important. There should be no hesitation. If you're not up to saving yourself when you need to, no intentional cutaway can fix that. Also, intentional cutaway rigs are different from regular ones so if you really wanted to do intentional cutaways for training, you should make them with your normal gear. In the scenario that presented itself in the video I would've probably made a controllability check and if things felt OK I would've landed it. Depending on WL and canopy type of course. To each his own.

That facebook thread was interesting. I can totally understand the land owner. However, it seems that a lot of others don't, and some of the comments there does not help the situation. To quote the land owner: The Right Thing To Do (if it hasn't been done) would be for a representative of The Ten to sit down or at least call the land owner and apologise. Say "we couldn't make it back to the drop zone, so we landed here. We acted in a disrespectful manner, scared livestock and for this we are sorry". Don't come with stupid comments like "skydivers have a right to make an emergency landing anywhere", "there's always two sides to every story" &c.

My choice would be a PVC tube. Less weight, less prone to entangle with the bridle than a hackey sack. Never used a freefly pud so I can't comment on it. Y'all should read this old thread (the complete thread, not just the first post): http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=1501286

Sell it to the Danes, those crazies will jump just about anything.

For wingsuiting, it's better to be tall and slim. But I wouldn't worry about that just yet :) Good luck on your AFF, and welcome to your new life.

PLEASE... If you're jesting, add a disclaimer. If not, get educated on your gear and how a skyhook works. I see what you are saying. The sarcasm was plain to me but it may not have been to others....particularly the youngsters out there. Come on guys, why so serious? It's not like... Oh right... Never mind. So what I meant to point out was that, while you might get lucky cutting away at 100 ft with a skyhook fitted rig and survive, the certainty of "Vector 3 Container with sky hook~ opens your reserve in less than 100'" is misleading. I would never jump a canopy d-bagged, slider up from 100 ft in a static envrionment, with a properly loaded canopy above nice, soft ground. I would certainly not cutaway at the same altitude in the skydiving environment, even with a skyhook. But hey, that's just me

I love lightnings, but you'll be happier with just about any other canopy on the market. It's gonna open hard, it's gonna fly like shit and it's gonna land like shit :) But I tell you what, try to demo it and make up your own mind. You'd be loading it too much according to PDs own sizing chart. "F-111" canopies are great around .7 Also, I didn't know there was a Sabre 189.

Cool, I'll free-fall down to a hundred feet and pull my reserve. The skyhook will save me.

Water, or milk.

I had one for a while, I liked it. A 135 @ 1.3. I did about 150 jumps on it. Quick, on heading openings. Never had a slammer with it. I folded the outer cells toward the middle without burying them or having them inside the center cell, I exposed the center cell and I quartered the slider neatly. As with a lot of older canopies, inspecting the lines is important when buying. If it's out of trim, it's gonna open funny. Mine flew OK, it was in a good condition for its age. If you can fly a canopy you can have fun with it. You can stay up for a long time if you want to and ride the winds back to the LZ. It handled turbulence well. I landed out a couple of times with it, no worries there. I had no problems flying in wake turbulence with it. Pretty high front riser pressure but you could still put it in a dive. Pretty short recovery arc. It would shut down easy at landing, with a bit less flare power toward the end of the stroke than e.g. the sabre 2. They're cheap, they work and if they're in a good condition they're very reliable. You're still the pilot and the packer, so how you will feel about it is up to you.

Is that gray stuff concrete? Heal fast.

Now, I wonder if someone ever hook turned and swooped a stack? (the answer is probably 'yes')That would be awesome... :) It has more to do with personality than it has to do with the discipline itself. Some people are like Dean Moriarty when it comes to risk taking, the whole live fast and take your chances thing. It's not about understanding or managing the risks, it's more like gambling.

What you need is more speed. Try doing a 270 hook. Can you get your landings on the modern equivalent of tape? I bet you're flaring too slow, but video would help in making a more correct assessment.

Get the right tools for the job. Every formation you can build will build better with the proper canopies, and the risk of entanglements will be lower. Line burns from dacron still hurts, but at least it doesn't slice you like microlines does. I think many people find themselves in your situation, I know I did. Drop zones with airspace restrictions, no gear, no one to learn from or jump with. But getting the right gear and finding the right people is worth it. There's three of us here now, and jumping has never been better.

If you want to get technical, both MPEG-4 part 14 and MOV are file formats. They're pretty much the same except for some minor stuff no one cares about. MPEG-4 part 10 specifies q compression standard, a.k.a. H.264, a.k.a. MPEG-4 AVC. This is the compression format both cameras use. codec stands for coder/decoder, and is a piece of software responsible for handling the movie data decoding part itself. It is an implementation of the compression standard/method/algorithm/thingy. x264 is a codec for H.264, and H.264 compressed data might be found in a .mov or an .mp4 file. DivX is a codec for H.264 and MPEG-4 part 2, another MPEG-4 compression standard. But yeah, in reality they (GoPro Hero and Drift HD170) pretty much use the same "format". EDIT: whoops, MPEG-4 part 14 is not really the same as quicktime MOV format, I got a bit confused. It's based on that format though. And still, it's only the file format, or "container".

2 i really don't like. For me, it's too easy to get a ride in an elevator if the whole thing is not done quickly enough. But practice makes perfect I guess :) Two reflections on this topic by a beginner: If you use sashays to get down, do it with precision and don't fiddle around too much with the toggles. Get to where you want and get off the toggles. I used sashays too much in the beginning and most of the time I ended up low and behind. It got a lot better when I started to use more riser input

Awesome jump though

Just let someone else jump your presecond pack job if you're worried. My motto is, what goes in must come out so in the end it'll work out. Don't wait to get some packing experience. I don't know your DZ, but surely you can ask someone to help you out. A 'no' isn't the end of the world. I packed from the beginning, but I guess it's up to the jumper and the DZ vibe. It made me feel more comfortable in a way, gave me time (a lot of time) to process the jump and what not. It also made me trust the equipment more, I think. Dogs are awesome, way better than cats (and most people). I've had both. The cat was insane. He went from being a nice kitty to a berserk in a millisecond. Holding on to an arm or a leg with his front paws, clawing/running with his hind legs and biting down hard with his jaw. He did this all the time.

Hehe, wow. This is the best discussion ever, followed closely by the whole "objects fall at a constant speed so you can't dive towards someone in freefall"-argument that I've come across one time. Carry on.

A group tracking dive isn't about your fastest track, it's about your control and range tracking ... It could also be about looking your competitor in the eyes as you're tracking side by side, going past 2500 ft to see who's gonna chicken out and come in as first loser. After deployment you'll get a stack together with your

I don't think that's true. Of course, how safe of a jumper you will become depends a lot on the environment you're in (the whole DZ atmosphere) and not only your instructors, but they are (/should be) a big part of it. Compare an instructor that takes his time to explain what he's doing during a gear check with an instructor who just gives you a quick look over, a pat on the rig and a "You're good". The first instructor will instill a sense of the importance of gear checks in the student, as well as an understanding of what to check. The second one will just send a message along the lines of "hey, what can go wrong?" and make the student adhere to that philosophy as well. The first instructor is also more likely (IMHO) to give a proper debriefing. The foundation of the safety awareness in a skydiver is created when he's a student. It's important to have a good instructor. Now, people can define good in many ways: "Oh yeah, he's good. He's got 2K jumps, man!" "Oh yeah, he's good. He was on the 4-way team that won the [random comp]" "Dude, I thought for sure you'd die when you pulled that low turn. You're good!" etc, etc. My point is, if you (OP) don't think the instructor pays attention to you and your training, politely explain this and request another instructor at the DZ or ask for your money back if you feel that they don't take you seriously. Instructors are teachers, but some times they're more worried about making the next load than giving a thorough debriefing and that's not acceptable IMHO. Also, safety in this sport is not a matter of blind luck and not being a dumbass.

So I shouldn't worry about friction, static discharges or electrical faults in a somewhat closed oxygen enriched environment? Not trying to be an ass, just curious why you wouldn't worry about it. There's a lot of things that can act as fuel inside an aircraft, but maybe the oxygen concentration never increases much?